Welcome to Ulqini/Ulcinj

9/11 Loose Change

Velika plaza

Velika plaza, as one of the largest seashore locations in the Adriatic region, offers a unique opportunity for the tourism development. Velika plaža is located in the southernmost part of Montenegro, between the town of Ulcinj and the nature reserve and resort of Ada Bojana. The Bojana River, navigable in its total length, connects Velika plaza with Skadar Lake, one of the largest lakes in Europe and an important bird habitat designated as a Ramsar Site. Velika plaža, with 13 km in length and 60-100 m wide, is an exceptional site on the eastern Adriatic coast offering a unique opportunity for the development of an exclusive large scale resort of great natural
beauty, easily accessible and of good visibility. The development of this site is a top priority for the government.  

Maximum air temperature has average monthly maximum values in the warmest months (July and August) around 29°C, and in the coldest months (January and February) it is around 11-12°C. The frequency of maximum temperatures shows that the concentration of highest daily temperatures is in August.

Minimum air temperature in winter months has average value around 5°C, and in summer months it is around 21°C.

The average monthly air temperatures show a very regular pattern with maximum during July-August and minimum during January-February. The annual oscillation is on the average around 17°C. The average temperature is never bellow 5°C. The average monthly temperature above 10°C begins rather early, in March already, and ends in December, i.e. the period with active temperatures lasts from March till November. The average monthly air temperature for Ulcinj is 15.8°C.

Extreme monthly air temperatures show significant variation. The absolutely highest values of temperatures during the winter period are around 17°C, and extremely low around 0°C, while in the summer the extremely high temperatures are around 34°C, and extremely low around 17°C.
The absolute maximum occurs in August 40.5°C.
The absolute minimum occurs in February -6.4°C.

Summer days, when the highest daily temperature reaches 25°C or more, in the area of
Ulcinj, on the average there are 108 per annum, while the greatest number of these days is in July and August (around 29 days per month).

Tropical days, when the highest daily temperature reaches 30°C or more, in the area of
Ulcinj, on the average there are 27.6. Tropical days are registered mainly in June, July, August and September.

Wintry days, when the lowest temperature during 24 hours is bellow 0°C, in the area of Ulcinj, there are around 9 during the year. The occurrence of these days is typical for months December, January and February, and rarely March.

The characteristics of general precipitation regime on the Montenegrin coast, are the
maximum during winter and minimum during summer period of the year. In total annual
quantity of rainfall the greatest part is in October, November and December with around 30-40%, and the lowest June, July and August with only 10%.
During winter period, the daily average of rainfall is 5-8l/m2, although the greatest daily quantities may reach the value of more than 40 l/m2. During the summer, the daily average of rainfall is only around 1 l/m2.
The physical distribution of average annual quantities of rainfall shows a relatively fair consistency in the zone immediately near the sea.
The average annual quantity of rainfall in Ulcinj is 1109,0 l/m2 (the least at the Seaside).

Wind, as the element of climate, at certain stations (for the period 1981-1995) shows different values of the frequency of directions and velocity, as well as the occurrence of calms. The frequency of occurrence for the Seaside in general characterize, as dominant, the winds from north-east and south-west, while in certain stations some specific characteristics are identified. The following is characteristic for Ulcinj: northeast (16.8%), east (16.3%), eastnortheast (11.6%), west (8%), west-southwest (7.7%), and north-northeast (7.4%), and only 3.9% of calm.
For the whole Seaside maximum velocity have the winds from northern and southern quadrant, whose average speeds show very stable values (do not exceed 5 m/s). For Ulcinj, the greatest average speed has the south direction (3.6 m/s, with frequency 3.7%), and maximum speed the southwest wind (17 m/s, with frequency 3.6%).

The extreme annual wind blows at the Seaside have average speed of 33 m/s (120 km/h), and in Ulcinj 20 m/s (72 km/h) +/- 5.38 m/s.

Relative air humidity shows a very stable pattern throughout the year. The maximum of
average monthly values occurs during transitional months (April-May-June and September-October), and the minimum mainly during the summer period, in some cases even during January and February.

The values of average annual relative air humidity for Ulcinj are 65.9% (min 61.5% in July, max 69.3% in May).

The increased values of cloudiness are characteristic of winter part of the year, contrary to the summer when these values are low. At the Seaside, during the year, at average there are 42 percent (42%) of the sky is covered with clouds. The cloudiness in the summer is lower than the average annual for about 40%.
The average annual cloudiness for Ulcinj is 4.13 (min 1.8 in July and August, max 5.5 in December).

On the average, the Seaside has around 2455 hours of sunny days, of which 931 hours in summer months (June, July and August), i.e. around 40%of annual sunny days belongs to one quarter of the year. In winter the sunny days is significantly reduced. During January the Seaside has only 125 hours, which is 5% of the annual value. Daily, during the entire year the Seaside has on the average around 7 hours of sun shine, with daily oscillations from +/- 3.5 hours.
The average monthly value of sunny days for Ulcinj is 212.90 (max 332.0 in July).

Hydrographic characteristics

There are no detailed information about the relief of sea bottom along this part of the coast, except for the part of maritime zone gravitating towards the coast of the municipality Ulcinj (according to the research of the Institute of Marine Biology- Kotor), where shore and “shelf” are clearly developed, i.e. littoral ring (up to 200 m of depth) and the first part deep sea system. Shore is the narrow zone of sea bottom, lying between high and low water and thus it has the amphibious character, because during low tide it is covered by sea, and during high tide it is above the sea level. This zone is very much exposed to the mechanical activities of sea water and has frequent and periodic changes of physical-chemical conditions of environment. The beaches of Ulcinj are typical examples of developed shore. “Shelf” or littoral system is the part of sea bottom, which extends after shore usually in mild slope and spreads in the maritime zone in front of Ulcinj up to around 200 m of depth. There are three main and well-developed types in the physical structure of the sea bottom – craggy, sandy and silty bottom – whose particles are of land and sea origine.

The sea currents along the Montenegrin seaside are under immediate impact of the currents in the south Adriatic, whose greatest speeds range from 42 (incoming current) to 88 cm/s (outgoing current, along Italian coastline) and up to six times greater than the ones in other parts of the Adriatic Sea. The main surface current moves from southeast towards northwest with speed of 42 cm/s following the sea coastline from the strait of Otranto towards the northern part of the Adriatic.

The salinity of sea water varies. The values of 29.70%, and lower, were registered in the
area under the impact of river Bojana. At the same time, these values at the open sea increase up to 39%, in the periods of stronger inflow of the Mediterranean water.
The sea color along the Montenegrin coast is blue, blue-green or green-blue, depending on the cloudiness, the nature of bottom and vegetation along the coast. In more than 90% it is unchanged, and it changes only in the part of the shore which is in the part of Bojana inflow.
At the very mouth of Bojana river, the water color ranges from yellow-green to darkish yellow and dark yellow. Very dark blue to deep blue sea color is typical for the open waters of the south Adriatic Sea.
The transparency of water in the greatest part of the coastal area of the Montenegrin seaside reaches to the bottom, except for the part exposed to the inflow of Bojana. Reduced and often small transparency of water at the mouth of river Bojana expands to Mala ulcinjska plaza. Towards the open sea the transparency increases, and in the middle part of the local waters it reaches the highest values up to – 60 m.

The average annual sea temperature is 17.1°C.

The average monthly value for Ulcinj is 17.6°C. The average monthly values with temperature higher than 20.1°C occur in the period June-October (max 25.8°C in August).

The average daily sea temperatures show very stable values. On the entire Seaside, on 20% of days per annum the temperature is bellow 16.5°C; 50% of the days bellow 17.9°C; 90% of days bellow 20.1°C; while only on 10% days, the temperature exceeds 20.1°C (on 40% days the temperature is between 17.9°C and 20.1°C).

The direction of wave movement on the Montenegrin seashore is defined on the basis of registered frequency in certain stations, with the exemption of occurrences when the sea is without waves (calm). From the available information, the sea without waves is (not) registered in the station Ulcinj. The evident frequency of wave movement at station Ulcinj has east (41.5%), south (28.8%), then southwest and west direction (12.7%, i.e. 12.5%). The waves are more frequent in the winter, as follows: from the north (January, February, March), and south (November). The most frequent are waves high 0.5 to 1.5 (59-71%), while there is less frequency of high waves over 1.5 m (6-8%), mainly after long-lasting winds and from southern direction, and waves over 4.5% are the most rare (0.1%).

The condition of the sea surface is described according to international grading from 0 to 9. Gradation calm smooth sea (0) in Ulcinj actually never occurs; mild waves (2) occur in 66.9% of cases, and slightly wavy (3) 16.0%. The frequency of other conditions of sea surface (4-7) is far less occurring, while the extreme situations, when the sea is very heavy (8) or extremely very heavy (9) are very rare cases.